In the backyard peas two kinds of thyme
a lime tree a sorrell bush paw paw passion fruit
two mango trees one avocado tree
and a patch of cane flowering brilliant
to every sense even touch is heightened
in the carnival of fertility
but the smells haunt summer
pungent turn of coffee beans drying in wait
for their feet for the blue-back wash
all the way to ankles as they dance for turning
his brother crawling across the porch
watching them laughing
the cilantro attaching itself to the memories
of flowers and staying on for dinner
he would track the rancor
of a dead congoree through the house
from his sojourns through the bush
to the fresh-cut grass of the savannah
these are the smells he will remember
when he first makes love they will
lift him up call him to passion
the way the smell of a woman's skin
will call him to her
interrupt the intricate six-eighths timing
he imagines his heartbeat
will call him to improvise prayer
on his lips and rain smells like rain
like the distance between the splash
of droplets on hot asphalt
the smell of women will undo him
this summer re-invent the topography
of his becoming chart him male
and strong man and vulnerable
he will wear schoolyard fights
and cruel humor on his sleeves
use the same cutthroat instinct as musk
and shield
this is where the madness will start
where he will bi-polarize
into the ghosts of his histories
this is where he will learn power
that the ability to step on something
is the only thing that prevents
him from being stepped on
this is where he will learn to drink rum
start worrying his clothes
and clean sneakers
gain control of his body in dance
but this is the summer of smells
and salvation of all things coming together
this is the summer when his brother will learn
to walk and he will first make love
somehow the conflagration saves him
because all he can see in his brother
is light all he can see in this woman
is his reflection he will dance the coffee
with his father one last time the beans
will turn fill the air with scent heavy
as song his brother will go everywhere
with him and the map of love he will
become could lead him to everything
(c) Roger Bonair-Agard, 2003
